Spotlighted Project
Effects of RFID Technologies on Organizational Dynamics in Hospitals
This project, funded by the National Science Foundation (#0642797), investigates the implementation of radio-frequency identification (RFID) technologies in healthcare systems. Hospitals are rapidly adopting RFID systems to track inventory, identify patients, and manage personnel. RFID systems are seen as valuable because of their ability to collect data in real-time. As a result, these systems may lend themselves to surveillance, such that the location of individuals is tracked and analyzed under the rubric of management paradigms like “workflow management.”
This two-year project is exploring the effects of RFID systems on organizational dynamics in hospitals. Research sites include hospitals with fully functioning RFID systems in place or those with systems under development. The research questions are (1) What effects do RFID systems have upon organizational roles and relations? and (2) What are the surveillance potentials of RFID systems? The focus of these questions includes documentable practices and policies as well as hospital staff’s perceptions of the changes brought by the RFID systems. Using qualitative methods, the research is being conducted through observational studies at six hospital sites and a minimum of 90 semi-structured interviews with hospital staff, including physicians, nurses, administrators, and information technology staff.
Researchers: Jill A. Fisher and Torin Monahan
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